Russia is on fire. For weeks, the typically cool country has suffered a scorching heat wave that's left thousands dead, hundreds homeless, and the countryside ablaze with wildfires. President Dmitry Medvedev declared a state of emergency on Monday amid forecasts of continued blistering temperatures. The heat wave comes during what has been — so far — the hottest year on record around the world. (Watch a Russia Today report about the heat wave.) Here, a statistical look at Russia's heatwave:
73° F
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101°
Temperature in Moscow on Thursday — the highest reading ever in the city
111°
Temperature on Monday in the fire-ravaged southern provence of Voronezh
25 million
Acres of crops ruined by the heat wave
50%
Expected decline in Russia's wheat exports this year
1,000%
Increase in air pollution in Moscow last week due to peat bog fires near the city
2
Packs of cigarettes one would have to smoke per day to equal the effects of Moscow's smog-choked air
Increase in sales of Russian soft drinks
500
Number of new fires emergency crews have discovered in the past day
180,000
Number of people working to fight the blazes
2,000
Approximate number of people — many of them intoxicated — who have drowned while attempting to cool off in rivers
8/1
Date on which Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox church, asked for all Russians to "to unite in prayer for rain to descend on our earth."
Sources: Reuters, BBC (2), WSJ, Bloomberg, Financial Times, NYT, Prime-Tass, Sydney Morning Herald, Guardian
